Wednesday May 11, Â 6-6:50 PM (Immediately before the KFNA Board Meeting), MLK Park
The format of this informational meeting will be an “open house†style where folks can come and view the exhibits and the County / City staff will be available for individual questions and discussion. There will be a handout summarizing the project and its schedule and a large layout on hand for folks to review. County Staff will be available to answer questions or accept comments at any time prior or after these neighborhood meetings.
Project Update 5/9/16:Â
This fall, 46th Street (a street maintained by Hennepin County) between Cedar Avenue and Lyndale Avenue will receive a ‘mill and overlay’ resurfacing treatment. This is a similar type of treatment that was done on 38th street recently where the existing surface and ground down and a new coat of asphalt is added on top. Unlike a full street construction (a la Nicollet Avenue in 2014), this project will be completed the length of the 2 mile corridor in a few short weeks and will allow traffic operations to continue throughout its duration.
Upon completion, the fresh smooth surface allows for the opportunity to stripe the street in a new traffic pattern to resolve lingering safety concerns at high traffic volume intersections and general crossing points on foot along the entire corridor. From Cedar to just west of Nicollet Ave, this new configuration commonly referred to as a ‘4 to 3 lane conversion’ will help resolve unclear turning motions by introducing a dedicated left hand turn lane. This will help people turning left be lined up across the intersection from one another, a configuration that has shown to reduce crashes through better eye contact with oncoming drivers and removal of swerving by cars attempting to bypass the cars stopped to turn. From Nicollet Ave to Lyndale Ave, 46th Street will continue to have just 2 lanes of traffic, one going each direction.
Bicycle lanes are being introduced on each side of the street in many places in the corridor. This is in order to provide a safer route for bicyclists who are coming from either side of the freeway be more visible in their approach. It will also slightly narrow the effective crossing width of the street, which improves the safety of people trying to walk across the street at intersections without stop lights. On the Kingfield side of corridor, all parking spaces will be maintained on the north side of 46th street. There will be some removal of parking on the south side of the street only and only on residential facing blocks where parking is little used to open up room for the bicycle lanes. There will be no change to the parking configuration at the Grand Avenue business node, from Harriet Avenue to Pleasant Avenue.
Safely walking across 46th Street was a top topic concern mentioned during the public open houses and neighborhood technical committee meetings. Because 46th Street is the only place for bicyclists or pedestrians to cross the freeway from 42nd to 50th streets, any incremental improvements in safety that can be made in the approaches to the busy intersections at Nicollet and 35W interchange is a step in the right direction. While there was not enough room in the street’s right of way to accommodate all of the ideas and tactics to make the street safer for all users (motorists, pedestrians, bus riders, bicyclists, adjacent business owners and residents), the proposed combination of many techniques stands to increase visibility, shorten crossing distances and clarify car turning movements.
There will be a open house on Wednesday May 11 at 6 PM at MLK Park to review the final design as currently proposed by the county. County officials, city officials and neighborhood technical committee members will be on hand to answer questions. [Additional information can be obtained on Hennepin County’s website at: www.hennepin.us/46street or by contacting Bob Byers (612) 596-0354 / or Allan Klugman (612) 673-2743 / .
 Project Background: Hennepin County plans on paving 46th Street from Lyndale Avenue to Cedar Avenue late this summer. This project provides an opportunity to reconfigure the striping in order to encourage slower speeds and to improve the overall clarity for vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle travel. The levels of congestion and delay are predicted to remain similar to what is experienced today. 46th Street currently carries about 8,000 – 10,000 vehicles per day between Lyndale and Nicollet Avenues, which is adequately handled by the existing 2-lane design. The morning rush hour is about 8% of the daily volumes and the evening rush hour is about 10%. Between Lyndale and Nicollet Avenues, the proposed configuration would stripe the north side parking lane and add bike lanes. Parking would generally be prohibited on the south side of the street with the possible exception near the business node at Grand Avenue. After the changes are made, County and City staff will be monitoring the operations and are prepared to modify the design if conditions warrant.